June 30, 2023
Happy belated Canada Day! We hope you folks took some time to relax like we did on Monday. After our restful Monday, the weather was not so kind to us for our first workday of the week. It was raining cats and dogs! Since the conditions outside were not ideal, the crew decided to split in two for the day. Nicole, Romy and Mel traveled around the watershed area to promote our Swim for the South Shore event (coming up August 19th!) While on their stroll they also noted the GPS locations of the Japanese Knotweed that has colonized around Victoria. Unfortunately this invasive species is very good at dispersing and overtaking areas, choking out other native vegetation. By marking these locations and transmitting this information to the city, we can start taking the steps to control its spread! Meanwhile, Matt, Ashton, Keiran and Ian found shelter from the rain and built some bird boxes to hopefully be hung in our watersheds at the end of the season or to be purchased by the public.
Wednesday and Thursday, Matt and Nicole attended a training program on eelgrass monitoring taught in partnership with Nova Scotia Ecology Action Centre, Miramichi River Environmental Assessment Committee and Shediac Bay Watershed Association. The event, hosted by BBMA, trained watershed workers in how to identify eelgrass and monitor it for long term health. The rest of the crew were hard at work in the stream, continuing our season-long project to clean up the streams in the DeSable area!
Finally Friday, and a hot one at that! Mel, Nick, Catherine and Romy started bank swallow surveys down the coast of Victoria. The goal of these surveys is to get an idea of bank swallow population density and how many burrows are currently active and occupied by bank swallow fledglings. These sweet birds are recognizable by their forked tail and white belly, and their erratic flying pattern as they dive through the air for insects. With the effort of all the watersheds on the island in collaboration with the PEI Island Nature Trust we will be able to have a picture of bank swallow health and occupation island wide! Despite the heat, Keiran, Ashton and Ian were hard at work on land mowing our local parks for public access. The hot weather this weekend makes it an opportune time for a park stroll, so get on out there and let us know what you think!
This weekend SSWA will have a booth for the Summerside Lobster Carnival! The carnival is located on the Credit Union grounds and is open from 12pm to 11pm, and our booth will be up from 12pm to 5pm. If you can come out, pop on over and say hi!
Have a safe and happy weekend, make sure to stay hydrated!
Love, SSWA
